[General] How much do non-ideal professions gimp you in raids?

I have Skinning, and was planning on another gathering profession like Herbs but I read that they're a waste compared to the other strong profession perks. So, how much of an advantage is having the best profession perks compared to the less than ideal perks from Skinning and Herbs? Are we talking a 5-10% dps difference? Or is it just a slight difference?

Enchanting, for example, is 320 intellect. That's around ~1200-1500 DPS. Skinning gives you 480 crit, for a fire mage that's like ~1,000 DPS. Don't quote me on those stat weights but if you do 50,000 DPS you're looking at a 1% DPS gain.

If u are Fire skinning could be better because of the value of crit for fire.
Herb brings u a nice coolddown with haste and a selfheal which is not allways bad.
I think u dont loose to much unless u are really in endgameprogression.

I'm Frost, so the Haste is probably nice from Herbs but I expect to be Haste capped anyway. The Crit isn't bad from skinning, but not as sexy as with Fire either. I'm not trying to set world firsts or anything, but I am nonbad and semi-serious about raiding. I haven't played since WotLK and was wondering how large the variances are nowadays between them. I can handle a 1-2% dps loss to someone with ideal profession perks. I suppose if it gets out of hand I'll just re-profession this character. Thanks.

I think it's probably in the zone that it's really up to the person to decide wether they care or not. It shouldn't be the thing that makes or breaks your raiding compared to the other things that affect it.

I think it's probably in the zone that it's really up to the person to decide wether they care or not. It shouldn't be the thing that makes or breaks your raiding compared to the other things that affect it.

I wake up to read this, and honestly it's probably the best advice that I needed to hear. I like skinning, and I prefer whatever other gathering profession I choose to go with. I just don't want it to have a material impact on my raiding. It seems that it won't, and that's nice to hear.

Also, kinda still on topic...I'm not 90 yet but is everybody in WoW going LW and Engineering right now? They seem to be the flavor of the month professions because they're so strong. But if everyone does that I imagine leveling them would be quite pricey! I really like enchanting personally, but holy cow is it expensive to level!

On paper tailoring seems good, in practice it often isnt that great because you cant always have lightweave up when you want it to be.

---------- Post added 2012-11-30 at 01:41 AM ----------

Originally Posted by PriestLuna

I wake up to read this, and honestly it's probably the best advice that I needed to hear. I like skinning, and I prefer whatever other gathering profession I choose to go with. I just don't want it to have a material impact on my raiding. It seems that it won't, and that's nice to hear.

Also, kinda still on topic...I'm not 90 yet but is everybody in WoW going LW and Engineering right now? They seem to be the flavor of the month professions because they're so strong. But if everyone does that I imagine leveling them would be quite pricey! I really like enchanting personally, but holy cow is it expensive to level!

Not very many people are LW - engineering is popular though. Its pve bonus is good but honestly the reason its popular is its utility. Nitro boosts and goblin glider are great fun, and being able to use the auction house in Shrine of Two Moons is extremely convenient.